Photo: Ford
According to studies, around 60 cyclists every year in the United Kingdom are killed or seriously hurt every year by “car dooring” — what happens when a motorist opens a car door into the path of something riding a bike alongside their vehicle. To help combat this problem, which is also estimated to have been the cause of approximately 3,500 accidents in Germany just in 2018, Ford is developing a new technology called Exit Warning.
Like the Blind Spot Information System, Ford Exit Warning lets drivers know when a cyclist or motorcyclist is approaching the vehicle. This warning would ideally help prevent drivers from opening their doors into the path of vulnerable road users, cutting down on accidents, injuries, and worse.
“Cyclists, and increasingly e-scooter riders, face daily safety challenges on our busy roads, including avoiding car doors as they open,” said Vehicle Architecture Engineer for Ford of Europe Friederike Philipsenburg. “Exit Warning is just one of the ways we are helping to make the roads better for everybody — whether they are on two wheels or four.”
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How Ford Exit Warning works
The system uses sensors to interpret the movement of cyclists, motorcyclists, and e-scooter riders to determine if they are approaching the vehicle in the path of the driver- or passenger-side door. Red LED lights on the side mirrors flash to alert the driver, as does a strip of red LEDs on the inner door trim that illuminate when the door is opened. An alarm also sounds to make sure that drivers and passengers are fully alerted to the situation.
Ford is working to make the Exit Warning system prevent doors from fully opening when a passing cyclist is tested, and it adds that this feature would have a manual override for cases of emergency.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.
